Germany-Austria-Switzerland itinerary/transport

First of all, is there any reason you're flying into and out of Amsterdam? Backtracking from Switzerland to Amsterdam is expensive. Many experienced travelers try to fly into one city and home from another--open jaw.
I have taken this trip by car twice, and am somewhat familiar with the turf. One year we went down to Venice. Another year, we went over to Vienna.

If you're a good driver, don't hesitate to take the trip by rental car. The roads throughout the region are good and easily navigated. Even the mountain roads are well paved.

I would suggest you take a train from Amsterdam to Cologne. Pickup your rental car upon leaving Cologne. Drive up the Rhine River to Bacharach to spend the night. Next day, drive on down to Heidelberg or on to Munich. After spending your time in Munich, drive on over to Salzburg. When leaving Salzburg, drop south into Tirol--around Innsbruck. Forget Switzerland, as Western Austria is easier to travel through, it's so much cheaper and the mountain scenery is just as dramatic. Depending on time, you could even drop down to Venice for a couple of days. You could also catch Neuschwanstein Castle/Fuessen on your way back to Munich. Return your rental car in Munich and fly home from there.

Thank you for your suggestions, David. I'll take a closer look at Austria. You mentioned travel from Zurich to Amsredam is expensive. Would there be any costs not covered by a Eurail pass or rental car and gas?

We definitely want to see Amsterdam, but are hoping to build our 2 week trip around that. Unless there is a method I'm unaware of, flying back from a different city could as much as double my plane ticket cost.

rcam,

A few thoughts and questions on your proposed Itinerary.....

• While the cost may be slightly higher, using open jaw flights are a more efficient method, which will maximize your very short touring time. In determining the best option, be sure to calculate your costs getting back to Amserdam.
• Especially for such a very short 14-day Itinerary, using high speed trains rather than car rental would be a much more efficient use of your travel time.
• Is there a reason you chose Heidelberg or would another town on the Rhein be equally good? Some of the usual favourites are Bacharach, St. Goar or others in that area.
• It looks like you'll have a bit more than two days for Munich. What are you planning to see there?
• Same question as above for Salzburg.
• Is there a particular reason you chose Zürich? It wouldn't be my first choice for a location with "nearby Alps hiking". Although it will likely be a bit chilly at night, one of the big favourites of many here is the Berner Oberland and Lauterbrunnen Valley. There are lots of hiking opportunities on both sides of the valley.
• Are you using a guidebook to plan sightseeing in each location? That would be a worthwhile investment (IMO) that may pay for itself very quickly.

Flying back from a different city ("open jaw") does not "as much as double" the cost of your flights. You must be looking at two one-ways? Instead, use the "Multi-city" function on the search engines.

On the Google flight search, I found that a flight into Amsterdam and back from Zurich costs only $85 more than flying roundtrip to Amsterdam and back: $1308 versus $1223. I was using Chicago as a home base as your profile does not say where you live. The flights are non-stop in both cases.

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;iti=ORD_AMS_2015-10-01*ZRH_ORD_2015-10-15;tt=m

It will cost you more than that to travel back to Amsterdam for a flight, as well as consuming a precious day of your vacation time.

Your plan has you spending three nights in Zurich before going to Kandersteg or Luzern---not what I would recommend. Zurich is not a good base for hiking and while it is a nice enough big city, one night there (generally before your flight home) is plenty. Or spend that night in Luzern as many do.

If you do fly back from Zurich on the 18th, you will have 6 nights to spend in Switzerland. If your interest is hiking and alpine scenery, I suggest you spend 2-3 nights in the Berner Oberland, 1-2 in Kandersteg (we love that place), and one each in Zurich and Luzern. Or depending on your travel time from Salzburg, you could skip a stop in Zurich and continue directly to Kandersteg (2 hours by train from Zurich). Then work your way back and spend the last night in Luzern.